Switzerland. Glaciers are melting at a rapid pace. 10 percent of the ice disappeared in two years

The effects of climate change are also felt high in the mountains. Prolonged heat waves cause the masses of snow and ice on the Alpine slopes to melt and crumble. According to data from the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), in some places this process is progressing faster than we might expect.

Scientists from the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) conduct annual observations of ice in the Alps. Their measurements indicated that in 2023, the volume of glacial ice decreased by four percent. This is the second largest such a serious decline. It was only worse in 2022, when six percent of the volume of glaciers was destroyed.

“The acceleration of melting is dramatic. In just two years, as much ice has been lost as between 1960 and 1990,” the academy said. As it was written, “two extreme years in a row have led to a reduction in the area of ​​glacier tongues and the disappearance of many smaller ones.”

In the canton of Valais in the south of the country, one of the glaciers lost as much as three meters in thickness, and melting occurred even at an altitude of 3,200 meters, an altitude at which the glaciers remained untouched until recently.

Switzerland has the most glaciers of any country in Europe. The head of GLAMOS, Matthias Huss, said that about a thousand small glaciers have already disappeared across the country, and “now larger and more important glaciers are also starting to disappear.”

As Huss said, experts had to stop research on some glaciers because there was too little ice left to climb them safely. Such a situation occurred on the Saint Annafirn glacier in central Switzerland, where only dead ice (blocks of ice separated from the glacier when the glacier was disappearing) and loose rocks remained.

– Glaciers are ambassadors of climate change. They show very clearly what changes are taking place in the climate because they respond very sensitively to rising temperatures, Huss said. – The study once again emphasizes that there is an urgent need to take immediate action if we want to stabilize and save at least some glaciers – he added.

Experts said the huge ice loss is due to winters with very little snowfall, which falls on glaciers and protects them from direct sunlight and high summer temperatures.

A team of researchers from the Swiss Academy of Sciences noted that although snow depths measured in the first half of February were generally higher than in the winters of 1964, 1990 or 2007, when snowfall was also exceptionally low, snow levels dropped to a new level in the second half of the month. record low level, reaching only about 30%. long-term average. The exceptionally warm June caused the snow to melt two to four weeks earlier than usual. The summer turned out to be one of the hottest since records began, and the high temperature lasted until September.

In August this year, which is the peak of the thaw, the Swiss meteorological service Meteo Suisse reported the highest ever “zero degree limit” in the Alps – the altitude at which the temperature dropped to 0 degrees Celsius. It was recorded at an altitude of 5,298 meters above sea level – higher than the peak of Mont Blanc.

The loss of glaciers may have disastrous consequences not only for the environment. Although meltwater helped combat drought in low-lying areas of Switzerland in 2023, Matthias Huss explained that such benefits are short-lived. The smaller the glacier, the less water is trapped in it, which could worsen water shortages during upcoming heatwaves.